The Australian Government is investing $5.5 million over 2024-25 to 2026-27 to extend the ELLIC trial (the ELLIC expansion). ELLIC aims to help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander preschool children, for whom English is an additional language or dialect (EAL/D) to learn English in a fun and engaging way.
ELLIC expansion
The trial expansion will see the program grow from 20 trial schools to up to 100 schools nationally in remote and very remote locations and be offered to children from Foundation to Year 3.
In March 2025, the department re-engaged Education Services Australia (ESA) to deliver the ELLIC expansion.
The ELLIC expansion intends to achieve the following outcomes:
- Build the English language learning of participating children while recognising their first language/s and culture.
- Deliver a program aligned to the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) EAL/D teaching practices and the Australian Curriculum: Foundation to Year 3.
- Improve digital literacy capability.
About the trial
The English Language Learning for Indigenous Children Trial is:
- co-designed in consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education stakeholders;
- underpinned by a series of digital learning play-based apps;
- tailored for Indigenous children for whom English is an additional language or dialect (EAL/D); and
- initially a trial delivered by ESA across 20 regional and remote preschools in the Northern Territory, Queensland, and Western Australia to approximately 275 Indigenous preschool children in 2022.
ELLIC expansion outcomes
An independent evaluation of the implementation and outcomes of the ELLIC expansion will be undertaken in 2026 and 2027.